Abstract
During the 1997 Swedish grazing season, faeces were collected every 3 weeks on 7 occasions from young grazing cattle with moderate nematode parasite infections. From this source 12, 400 g dung pats were set up on each sampling occasion on a specially designated area of pasture. Half of these pats were placed on pasture where it was aimed to prevent snow cover during the subsequent winter. During the grazing season, herbage growth was kept at reasonably uniform height by clipping and the dung pats were protected from destruction by animals and birds. At the time of animal turn-out the following year (7th April 1998), it was observed that all dung pats had disappeared. Assessments of the survival of infective larvae, both on pasture and in soil, were made in a circular area encompassing the location of each pat. These sampling procedures were completed within a 3 week period. All faecal deposits yielded infective larvae at turnout the following year, with proportionally greater numbers developing from nematode eggs deposited in cattle dung during the mid third of the previous grazing season. The surface layer of soil was found to be an important reservoir for infective larvae, with numbers recovered being approximately half those found in the overlying pasture samples. No significant differences were found between the normal pasture and snow excluded pasture in the number of infective larvae recovered from both pasture and soil samples. The epidemiological consequences of these findings are discussed.
Keywords: Ecology, cattle nematodes, infective larvae, pasture, soil, Cooperia oncophora
Sammanfattning
Under betessäsongen 1997 insamlades träck vid 7 tillfällen med 3 veckors intervall från 20 förstagångsbetande nötkreatur. Samtliga kalvar infekterades före betessläppningen med ca 12000 larver, huvudsakligen Cooperia oncophora. Vid varje provtagningstillfälle räknades antalet ägg per gram faeces och tolv identiska konstgjorda komockor à 400 g preparerades. Dessa placerades sedan enligt ett förutbestämt mönster på betesmark, markerades med bambukäppar och skyddades mot fågelangrepp. Gräset klipptes regelbundet och hölls på en enhetlig höjd (5–10 cm). Under vinterperioden (november–mars) förhindrades snöfall på hälften av mockorna. Vid tidpunkten för betessläpp den 7:e april foljande år noterades att samtliga träckhögar var fullständigt nedbrutna. Antalet överlevande infektiösa larver uppskattades från en cirkulär yta (diameter 28 cm) centrerad över platsen for den utplacerade träcken, i såväl gräs- som jordprover. Resultaten visar att all träck som deponerades under betessäsongen genererade infektiösa larver till tidpunkten för betessläppning efterföljande år. Det högsta antalet larver, uttryckt både i absoluta och relativa tal, härrörde från träck som deponerades under den inledande betesperioden i juli. Flest larver påträffades i gräs/förnaskiktet men en betydande andel återfanns i det översta jordskiktet. Inga statistiskt säkerställda skillnader noterades mellan antalet infektiösa larver, vare sig från gräs eller jordproverna från den normala respektive snöfria betesytan.
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